Los Angeles -- In 1970, Bobby Bonds hit .302, walked 77 times and had an OPS-plus of 135, yet people homed in on his league-leading 189 strikeouts. Fed up, he said, "I'll give you 200 hits. How I make my outs is my business."

Brandon Hicks smiled at the story. Hicks has hit six home runs with a 122 OPS-plus - a measure that combines on-base and slugging percentages on a scale in which league average is 100 - from the seventh and eighth spots in the order. Yet he gets a lot of questions about his strikeouts, which have been his bane and a big reason behind his inability to stick in the majors.

Hicks tied Thursday night's game with a seventh-inning homer off Josh Beckett and struck out in his other three at-bats, giving him 33 in 104 plate appearances and a slash line of .193/.311/.443 - that's batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

Afterward, manager Bruce Bochy said he did not care about the worst of those numbers.

"You've heard me say I'm not big on batting average," Bochy said. "I believe like a lot of baseball people believe it's overrated. It's on-base and slugging percentage. Sometimes you give up a little to do some damage."

Hicks appreciated the sentiment but said he is not content to be a .200 hitter or strike out a third of the time, even if that represents an improvement. With Oakland two years ago he had 31 strikeouts in 70 plate appearances and hit .172.

"You always want to be the best hitter you can be," he said. "I know I'm a better hitter than this, batting-average-wise. It's a matter of getting locked into a solid approach."

Huff rakes: Left-handed long reliever David Huff pitched three shutout innings in a rehab assignment for Triple-A Fresno on Thursday night. Beyond that, he tested the quadriceps he strained by running out a double, saying, "I took a page out of (Madison Bumgarner's) book. I ambushed the first pitch."

No decision has been made on his activation date.

On deck

Saturday

at Dodgers

1:10 p.m. FS1, CSNBA

Cain (0-3) vs.

Greinke (5-1)

Sunday

at Dodgers

1:10 p.m. CSNBA

Hudson (4-2) vs. Kershaw (2-0)

Monday

vs. Braves

7:15 p.m. CSNBA

Floyd (0-0) vs.

Lincecum (2-2)

Leading off

No power needed: Giants relievers led the majors in wins (11), ERA (1.77) and opponents batting average (.197) entering Friday's games. However, their 87 strikeouts ranked 25th.